promoearn: The weather outside is frightful

Thursday, February 3

Zander Heyza makes a snow angel in the street in Flint, Mich., on Feb. 2 after his school was canceled because of a snowstorm that blanketed the area.

Winter storm. Winter Olympics. Thursday's news.

Another week, another winter storm sweeping the nation. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are underway. And Jeff Bezos' new superyacht is so enormous, a bridge will have to be dismantled, so it can go out to sea, where it belongs.

👋 Hey! It's Laura. It's Thursday. Nothing rhymes with Thursday, so here's the news!

But first, why did the chicken cross the road? 🐓 To get to the Pentagon, of course. A spunky hen was taken into custody after she was discovered sneaking around a security area at the Pentagon, and nobody knows how she got there.

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Winter tempest dumps all sorts of frozen precipitation across US

Baby, it's cold outside. A massive winter storm brought freezing rain and record-breaking snow Thursday, creating dangerous conditions as it trekked from the South through the Northeast. Schools were closed, flights were canceled and power was knocked out in some areas as more than 100 million people were under some form of a winter weather alert, according to the National Weather Service. From the Rockies to the Northeast, the storm was expected to bring snow, sleet and freezing rain to millions through Friday evening. Parts of the Midwest and Northeast could see up to 18 inches of snow, and up to an inch of ice was possible in isolated areas around Kentucky and Tennessee, according to forecasts. More than 4,700 flights were canceled Thursday, according to the tracker Flightaware.com. More than 200,000 customers in Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee lost power, according to Poweroutage.us.

•	Huge winter storm prompts 4,600+ flight cancellations across US.
•	How do you drive in snow or ice during a winter storm? Don't slam on the brakes.

ISIS leader killed during US raid in Syria

Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed in an overnight U.S. military raid in Syria, President Joe Biden announced Thursday. Al-Qurayshi detonated a bomb that killed himself and several other people, including his wife and children, as U.S. special operations forces approached with the intention of capturing him, Biden said. The operation, which took place overnight in northwest Syria, near the Turkish border, "took a major terrorist leader off the battlefield and sent a strong message to terrorists around the world: We will come after you and find you," Biden said. According to officials, the raid had been planned and rehearsed for months, and there were no U.S. casualties.

•	Is Biden on a bit of a rebound? ISIS strike, omicron ebb gives besieged president a boost.

A house was destroyed during an operation by the U.S. military in the Syrian village of Atmeh. U.S. special operations forces conducted a counterterrorism raid in northwestern Syria on Feb. 3, what the Pentagon called a "successful mission." Residents and activists reported multiple deaths, including civilians.

Ghaith Alsayed/AP

What everyone's talking about

•	Two 'Masked Singer' judges reportedly walked off in protest after Rudy Giuliani was unmasked as a contestant on the show.
•	Watched this last night, it was wild: 'The Tinder Swindler' and why we can't look away from these horror stories of deception.
•	Ex-Chicago officer who killed Black teen is out of prison. Was it justice?
•	Church sues city over ordinance limiting number of days it can serve free meals to homeless.
•	Fresno State president mishandled sexual harassment complaints. Now he leads all 23 Cal State colleges.

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Winter Olympics underway in Beijing

And now, over to China. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are happening! Amid coronavirus surges and political controversy, the opening ceremony is slated for Friday night (Beijing time) and Friday morning (6:30 a.m. EST) in the USA, but events began Wednesday and will continue through Feb. 20 with the closing ceremony. On Thursday, the action continued with mixed doubles curling, men's alpine skiing and women's ice hockey, and the U.S. women's team played Finland. Thursday brings prime-time television coverage of figure skating and freestyle skiing. The Games have a record of 109 medal events, and Team USA features more than 200 athletes. Follow along with up-to-date coverage from the USA TODAY Sports staff.

•	My people, the Uyghurs, suffer genocide while the world plays games at the Winter Olympics. \| Opinion
•	2022 Winter Olympics opening ceremony: How to watch the start of the Beijing Games.

Bryce Bennett (USA) trains for the men's downhill at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games at Yanqing Alpine Skiing Centre on Feb 3.

Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports

At nursing homes, long waits for results render coronavirus tests 'useless'

More nursing homes wait longer for coronavirus test results for residents and staffers, according to federal data, making the fight against record numbers of omicron cases even harder. Slower turnaround times for PCR tests and a shortage of rapid tests have strained facilities where quickly identifying infections is crucial for keeping a highly vulnerable population safe. An analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finds that 25% of nursing homes that sent tests to a lab waited an average of three or more days for results as of Jan. 16. In early December, that number was 12%. At Lutheran Life Villages in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the long wait for results renders PCR tests "useless," President Alex Kiefer said. "If we send somebody off to get a PCR test, sometimes it takes two days for them to get an appointment. And then it takes two, three, four days to get a read."

A health worker arrives to take a nose swab sample as part of testing for the coronavirus April 17, 2020, at a nursing and rehabilitation facility in Seattle.

Ted S. Warren/AP

Real quick

•	US intelligence: Russia making fake attack video as pretext for invading Ukraine.
•	NASA will retire International Space Station, then crash it into the Pacific Ocean in 2031. I plan to do the same thing when I retire.
•	Suspect in killing of 2 campus officers at Bridgewater College was a former student.
•	Exclusive: 82 lawmakers call on White House to evacuate more Afghans who helped US.
•	Louisiana State Police trooper fired for speaking out about a Black man's death in custody and cover-up.

🛳 Bezos' bridge problem

A Dutch port city will dismantle a historic bridge to allow room for Jeff Bezos' superyacht to pass through this summer, and locals aren't happy. The city of Rotterdam said it will temporarily break down the Koningshavenbrug Bridge because Bezos' 417-foot-long yacht won't fit, Agence France-Presse reported. Bezos' $485 million yacht is being built by the Oceanco shipyard in Alblasserdam, Netherlands, and will pass through the port city. To make room, the middle section of the huge steel bridge will be removed, which Bezos will pay for, Dutch News reported. The Koningshavenbrug bridge was built in 1878 and was reconstructed after being bombed by the Nazis in 1940 during World War II. The mayor's office said the dismantling will be economically beneficial for the city and the bridge will be rebuilt to its original form. All of this begs the question: Why couldn't they put the yacht together somewhere else in the first place?

A break from the news

•	💞 Relationship advice: Yes, your partner has a past. This is how to 'get over' it.
•	📱 Want to draw mustaches on pictures of your friends or do something more useful, such as checking your heart rate? Here are 10 iPhone tricks to use every day.
•	🍿 What to watch this weekend: Halle Berry in 'Moonfall,' crazy shenanigans in 'Jackass Forever' and more.

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